La Primaria School welcomed a special guest to help celebrate the 100th day of school – actor, Ser’Darius Blain, who plays Anthony “Fridge” Johnson in hit movie Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

The students were thrilled to have him on campus and loved learning about how being in school helped him achieve his dream of becoming an actor.

“I loved the movie Jumanji, it was so funny!” said Amy, a third grader. “Fridge was a funny character and made me laugh a lot and he’s really tall. I can’t believe he is here at our school.”

La Primaria principal, Tony Lugo welcomed Blain to the special Jumanji jungled-themed stage and the actor shared the importance of education and how it played a significant role in his acting journey which began at age 12 when he helped his mom rewrite a middle school play that he also stared in.

“Happy 100th day of school!” said Blain. “School is so important and gave me so many opportunities to be whatever I wanted to be. You all can be anything you want to be – a fire fighter, a super star, a construction worker, a teacher or anything, and the way you start to be all that is by going to school and working hard.”

He encouraged the students to read a lot and write because it’s a great way to express their feelings. He was happy he read and wrote a lot in school because it enabled him to rewrite the play with his mom that sparked his love for acting.

“I had so much fun in my first play in middle school and that is what made me love acting and being on stage. I made sure I studied hard and kept my grades up and I ended up getting a scholarship to help me go to college.”

Bain attended the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts to pursue his acting career and has stared in several television shows and movies.

After he led fun game with teachers and students, Blain encouraged the students to be in school every day, work hard and set goals and dreams. “You can all achieve your dreams if you put the work in and believe!” Before he left, Blain signed a Jumanji poster for each of the 320 students. In addition to their exciting special guest, the students and staff commemorated the 100th day of school by dressing up as 100-year-olds and 3rd graders in Ms. Eskew's class sang the inspiring song "To All the Little Girls."